Fashion at a Funeral

I have been a little sad this week.  I recently lost my uncle Pret to cancer, and on Sunday I attended his memorial.

I find ritual comforting.  Putting on my finest makes me feel like I am confirming the importance of the passed soul and their impression on my life and the world.  The sober pagentry of a funeral procession is a reminder of the beauty still left in the world after a loved one leaves it, and also of the beauty they inspired while still here.

Funerals are as varied in tone and dress as weddings are, with traditions and expectations varying greatly between and within cultures.  A friend of mine recently attended a memorial that was a dance party at a club, and everyone wore slinky, shiny, night-on-the-town attire.  I have been to a service in a southern black baptist church where everyone wore all black and elaborate hats and cried over the embalmed deceased in an open casket.  I have been to non-denominational nor-cal style "come as you are" services where the attire ranges from mom-jeans and a fleece to dupioni pants-suits, and everyone cries politely in front of an urn while someone plays the harp.

Growing up, most of what I knew about death came from a fascination with 60s political assassinations.

Jacqueline Kennedy  at John Fitzgerald Kennedy's funeral

Coretta Scott King at Martin Luther King's funeral

Coretta and Jaqueline wore nearly the same veil.

Betty Shabazz at Malcolm X's funeral

Betty Shabazz chose to cover her head and wear sunglasses, but interestingly, did not wear a veil.  Perhaps it's my projection, but allowing her grief to be witnessed in the form of tears on her un-veiled face seems an appropriate parallel to her husband's style of activism, especially in contrast to Jacqueline and Coretta's choice to filter their grief with chiffon.

These days, we have much fewer high-profile political assassinations (though sadly, with the rise of the Tea Party, I am not sure this will remain true for long).  Politicians do die of natural causes though.

This is Michelle Obama at Senator Edward Kennedy's funeral.  I wouldn't expect a big veil, since that is widow territory, but she is sporting neither gloves nor a hat of any kind! Not to mention she opts for a mid-century circle-skirt look over a suit or anything tailored. How modern!

Modern funeral dressing may be unexpected at a Senator's funeral, but it's a matter of course when a star from the design world passes into the twinkling abyss.  At the 2008 funeral of Yves Saint Lauren, guests honored the departed icon with a fantastic array of personal style choices:

Vivienne Westwood and friend

Vivienne Westwood wore a military influenced deconstructed shirt-dress with a grey beanie and patent-leather high-heeled booties.

Valentino and Claudia Schiffer

Claudia Schiffer went hipster-chic in a prarie dress with opaque tights and simple black flats.

Jean Paul Gautier

Gautier, at 56, was working the "bad boy cleans up good" look.  It's remarkable how his crisp white shirt cuffs are peeking from under the sleeves of his motorcycle jacket just as if it were a blazer. I'm sure that isn't an accident.

John Galliano

John Galliano constantly defies categorization and his outfit at Saint Lauren's funeral is no exception.  I will say that where Gautier went for non-traditional in the outerwear and traditional in the innerwear, Galliano has done the reverse, wearing a conservative blazer over a low-cut shirt with jeans and a pair of mottled grey and white oxfords I wish were more in focus because they look amazing.

More recently, the fashion world lost Alexander McQueen to suicide.  I am not ashamed to say I cried. That man consistently taught us where to find beauty in the grotesque.  He had the imagination of a precocious child, one worldly enough to be filled with sophisticated ideas and innocent enough to find magic in the bizarre.

Lady Ga Ga

Lady Ga Ga, who's beautiful-monster brand of extreme fashion was a perfect match for McQueen, wore this avant-garde experiment in texture and proportion to McQueen's funeral. The enormous synthetic cape makes it look as if she's just parachuted in from outerspace, wearing a hat that would fit in at an Edwardian horse race and shoes that look like they came from a Bretón painting.

I might have expected to find Naomi Campell's very conservative tailored look while browsing through photos of Dr. King's funeral!  But this is what she wore to send McQueen off to be with his mother in the promised land.  In this instance, she is the anti-Ga Ga: the proportions of the dainty hat, dainty heel, slim tailored coat and just-below-the-knee hemline of her pencil skirt put the CLASS in classic.

Kate Moss' look wasn't very interesting overall, but the fur capelet kind of amazed me. It's very difficult to make a fur garment that has any sort of distinguishable line to it, because fur is soft and fluffy and blurs the cut.  This capelet has a very distinctive shape with readable lines, even more remarkable considering the long hair of the fur in question.

Alexander McQueen is one of very few public figures that I have mourned, among them Luther Vandross and Aaliyah.  But without a doubt, the only public figure that I have grieved extensively, that I still grieve even a year after his passing, is Michael Jackson.   At least once a week, I cry because Michael Jackson is dead.  Laugh if you want to, but I'm serious bout my Mike.

I tried desperately and unsuccessfully to get a ticket to Michael's memorial at the Staples Center, from which his sisters Janet, LaToya and Rebbie are seen exiting in the above photo.  Latoya and Rebbie's looks are classy and respectable.  Youngest sister Janet however adds fashion-forward to that list of attributes with her strong-shoulder geometric cut-out blouse, leather half-gloves and asymmetrically styled beret.

As for my Uncle Pret, he was the epitome of Black American masculine style for his generation. He wore crisp suits, silk ties with matching pocket squares, and hard shiny shoes. He was never without his gold watch, gold ring, and gold chain.  I wish I had a picture I could show you. This is what I wore to tell him goodbye:

The dress was a gift from my wife and is from Banana Republic. The broach and hat are both vintage, from China Town Salvation Army and a new nameless vintage store in West Oakland respectively. The shoes are Chi Mihara.  Sad expression courtesy of James Edward Pretlow 1938 - 2010.  I hope he thought I was sharp enough for his homegoing celebration.

Love
Carrie

Appropriate(d)

Lanvin sweater used as turban from Fantastic Man magazine.

I've come across men in turbans in a couple S/S 20110 collections a few times as of late. I had 2 immediate responses, 'That looks great!." and, "Is that OK?". The latter was surprising to me as I really don't care about appropriation when it comes to fashion. Without it in fact, fashion would be an abysmal abyss. If I have to hear one more person say, "white girl with dreads" in my lifetime, I may explode(not because I like it). To me it seems wrong to hold one cultures one thing in such an untouchable esteem. As it turns out turbans were originally used to stave off heat. It seems anyone should be able to stave off heat in this manner if they'd like.

I fully realize not everyone agrees with my thoughts on this. And that is fine. I'm not saying I don't understand.



Native Appropriations is a blog dedicated to, well, Native appropriations.

Certainly I don't think hipsters should wear head-dresses but that's because the head string craze is over so stop trying to keep it around by taking it even further and you look stupid. But, if you've already decided this is ok:

And this:

Then draw the line at head-dresses because it looks costume-y. I'm done talking about this, let's just look at stuff.

Damir Doma SS 2011

Alexander McQueen Menswear Spring 2011

Yohji Yamamoto S/S 2011

Off topic, I just like this:


Leitmotiv SS 2011 Collection

Patrick Mohr Blows the Internet's Mind. AKA, Get Over It!

All manner of internet fashion this and that has its panties in a bunch over Patrick Mohr's recent Berlin Fashion Week unveiling. Everyone between here and other places I'm less concerned with is espousing some version of outrage, fear or WTF-ness over his use of bearded androgynous models (which truthfully DO look like some combination of a salamander and a sickly pirate). But seriously, Internet? What is the problem?

Frankly, I think Mohr's choice of extremely ambiguous models is genius. I can't imagine anything better than a fashion designer intentionally (or not, who knows) commenting on the total absurdity that is the runway model. When it comes down to it, how are these models any more grotesque than the usual army of 110lb, six foot skeletors that pony prance down the runway? Loosen up, Internet! Get more comfortable with the illegible and for goodness sake, have a sense of humor. That's what I'm paying you for, Internet!

Patrick Mohr has always had an eccentric sensibility, and his creative use of competing, yet complimentary patterns, textures and colors is one of the things I like best about his designs. His 2008 line was a little bit my dream come true. Ice skates with the blades removed? Obviously, yes please. Knit high-wasted legging pant things? Gimme. Drapey hood that serves no real purpose apart from making you look enigmatic? Uh-huh, absolutely.









His 2010 line still smacks of a penchant for texture and pattern experimentation, it's just amplified to an extreme. Much of the commentary about his show in Berlin has been so singularly focused on the "horror" of his gender-less models, that people seem to be missing the fact that he's designing exclusively with what appear to be rubbish bags and blankets he found behind a building somewhere. Which is hilarious. And daring. And intellectually and culturally challenging.

Hey, Patrick Mohr! I want my car sun shade and cat's blanket back.
Thanks for making me reconsider my notions of beauty, though.

Really, Mohr's Berlin show is more akin to a concept album than anything else. He's created an entirely new world inhabited by beings who don't seem to be weighed down by human ideals of body, beauty and binary. So maybe the Internet just doesn't get it. Hey, Internet! Chill out, put on a Yahowha 13 album and watch Mohr's runway video. See if you can think outside of the box for a change.

Ultimately, Mohr's bizarre Berlin spectacle fits nicely within the annals of couture history. Nearly every season some designer shocks onlookers with a line that in some way makes a mockery of haute heads far and wide. Remember when Alexander McQueen scandalized Paris when he had his models march amid broken mirrors while wearing garbage bags as hats? The New York Times style section nearly burst into tears, that poor thing.

When it comes down to it, we're not that much more than kind of funny looking animals that don't have enough fur to survive so we have to make things to wear. Fashion is an extreme version of a necessity--it's absurd, it's bizarre, it's fun, it's often hilarious and, maybe most importantly, it's art. If Patrick Mohr wants to design a line that seems to poke fun of how seriously we take what we cover our skin with and if he wants to use models that poke fun of how seriously we take our gender constructs, then more power to him (though I admit that I hope he gets back to making things that I actually want to buy, because while I appreciate the creative implications of what he's doing, what the hell would I wear that to, I mean really).

So, Internet, why don't you just pour yourself a drink and think about why you have such a visceral reaction to Mohr's models. That would be so much more interesting than all of your performative whining. I mean, after all, Internet, you loved Avatar, which was a cinematic pile of horseshit with a vaguely offensive love story between things that have really wide-set eyes and spots. You can't deal with a few little ambiguously gendered fashion models?

In the words of the wisest among us--United States' eight-year olds--if you hate it so much, then why you lookin'?!